April 10: American official says US will help defend Israel if Iran, proxies launch attack

US not ruling out launching joint response against Iran if it attacks Israel — report

The United States will assist in defending Israel if its attacked by Iran or one of its proxies, Al Jazeera reports, citing an American official who says President Joe Biden’s earlier pledge that US support for Israeli security is “ironclad” didn’t come from left field.

The official says that if the attack involves missiles and drones, American forces could help in downing them, and also says the US hasn’t ruled out launching a joint response with Israel if the Jewish state is attacked by Iran or its proxies.

CENTCOM head to visit Israel Thursday to discuss threat of Iranian attack – report

File: US CENTCOM Commander General Michael Kurilla (L) meets Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Israel in a photo released March 4, 2024 (Defense Ministry/Shachar Yurman)

The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) General Michael Kurilla is expected to visit Israel on Thursday to discuss the threat of an Iranian attack against Israel, Axios reports.

According to the report, Kurilla is expected to meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and senior IDF officials.

The report adds that US and Israeli officials across various agencies have been in contact over the last few days as the countries prepare for a possible Iranian response to an alleged Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate building in Syria on April 1.

Germany’s Lufthansa suspends flights to Tehran amid concerns of Iranian attack on Israel

Germany’s Lufthansa LHAG.DE says after careful evaluation it has decided to suspend flights to and from Tehran until probably Thursday, April 11, “due to the current situation in the Middle East.”

Countries in the region and the United States have been on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran in response to an alleged Israeli attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus on April 1 in which several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers and two generals were killed

“We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our guests and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority,” a spokesperson for the company tells Reuters.

Settler activists plan to establish tent city on the Gaza border during Passover

File: Police remove members of the Nachala Settlement Movement from an open field near Kiryat Arba, after an attempt to establish illegal outposts in Judea and Samaria, July 20, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Thousands of settler activists are planning to hold an event on the Gaza border on April 25, during the Passover holiday, where they will establish a tent city with the aim of establishing core groups of settlers that will be responsible for resettling Gush Katif, which was evacuated in 2005 when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip.

The event is being organized by the Nachala Settlement Movement, which was also behind the “Settlements Bring Security” conference held in Jerusalem in January of this year. The Passover event is being held as a direct continuation of the conference.

On the day of the event, the settler activists will meet in Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel, and will discuss the logistics of resettling Gaza, including which group of settlers will be assigned to each planned settlement.

At the end of the event, the settlers plan to set up tents “as close as possible to the border with Gaza,” according to one of the event organizers.

This report was first published in Hebrew by The Times of Israel sister site Zman Yisrael.

Biden: Waiting to see results of call with Netanyahu, aid delivery has improved but ‘it’s not enough’

US President Joe Biden speaks during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (out of frame) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, April 10, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

US President Joe Biden says he is waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fulfill the commitments he made during their call last week to significantly expand aid into Gaza, including by opening an additional Israeli crossing into the northern Strip.

“Bibi and I had a long discussion. He agreed to do several things that related to… getting more aid — both food and medicine — into Gaza and reducing significantly the… civilian casualties in any action taken in the region,” Biden says during a White House press conference. ”

“That’s tied to the hostages,” Biden says, indicating that drops in aid and an increase in civilian casualties harm efforts to secure the release of the hostages.

The president notes that there has been an improvement over the past several days in the amount of aid that’s getting into Gaza, but insists that “it’s not enough” and that “we need more.”

“There’s one more [crossing] that has to [be opened in] the north. We’ll see what [Netanyahu] does in terms of meeting the commitments he made to me,” Biden says.

Netanyahu also pledged in that last Thursday call to open Israel’s Ashdod Port for regular maritime aid shipments but has yet to follow through on that either. The premier reportedly hasn’t even submitted the formal directives to open those two crossings amid likely pushback from several far-right ministers whose cooperation will be needed for the task.

Biden: It’s up to Hamas to agree to ceasefire deal that would free hostages

US President Joe Biden says the ball is now in Hamas’s court to accept a proposal on the table for a six-week truce that would see some of the hostages released from Gaza.

“It’s now up to Hamas. They need to move on the proposal that has been made [so we can] get these hostages home where they belong,” Biden says during a press conference. “It also brings back a six-week ceasefire that we need now.”

In an interview last week that aired yesterday, Biden only addressed the need for Israel to agree to a six-to-eight-week ceasefire without mentioning Hamas or the hostages. The White House said afterward that he was referring to the hostage deal currently being negotiated.

Biden notes that relatives of some of the American hostages met this week with US Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. “They know how committed we are… to getting their loved ones home. We’re not going to stop until we do.”

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana discusses Gaza hostages with heads of France’s Senate and National Assembly

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana visits the heads of France’s Senate and National Assembly in Paris.

Yael Braun-Pivet, French National Assembly President, writes afterward on X that “we must protect civilian populations, avoid a regional conflagration and achieve a peaceful solution, for the benefit of all.”

She also says the two discussed freeing the hostages, a potential ceasefire and humanitarian aid for Gazans.

After meeting with Senate President Gerard Larcher, Ohana tweets that “six months of war have only hardened our resolve to destroy Hamas, silence Iran’s proxies & reunite the hostages with their families.”

Six months of war have only hardened our resolve to destroy Hamas, silence Iran's proxies, & reunite the hostages with their families. I met today in Paris with President of the French Senate @gerard_larcher to discuss uniting behind our values – & these crucial goals.

????????????????… pic.twitter.com/0IVN2AGXfs

— Amir Ohana – אמיר אוחנה (@AmirOhana) April 10, 2024

Princeton University joins fellow Ivy League schools being investigated for alleged antisemitism

This December 3, 2015, photograph shows the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. (AP/Mel Evans)

JTA – While fellow Ivy League institutions landed in hot water over their handling of campus antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began six months ago with the October 7 Hamas massacre, Princeton University has largely evaded the spotlight.

That changed this week, as the US Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation into antisemitism allegations at the elite New Jersey private university based on a Jewish conservative activist’s complaint. The complainant cited reports of campus pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “Intifada” and “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall” a few weeks after October 7.

A Princeton spokesperson told the student newspaper that it is “confident we are in full compliance with the requirements of Title VI.”

Princeton will now join six other Ivy League schools in having at least one Title VI investigation opened since the October 7 Hamas attacks. They include Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, whose presidents resigned following criticism of their handling of tensions around the war and a December congressional hearing at which they both testified. An investigation can compel a university to make changes to protect its Jewish students.

The complaint that yielded the investigation into Princeton was filed by Zachary Marschall, editor of the conservative website Campus Reform, who is not a member of the university.

Some of Princeton’s Jewish leaders also criticized the investigation, saying that they were not consulted by Marschall. They dispute his characterization of the school as a hotbed of antisemitism.

Bloomberg: Iranian attack on Israel is imminent, could be a matter of days

Demonstrators burn an Israeli flag during the funeral for seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed in a strike in Syria, which Iran blamed on Israel, in Tehran on April 5, 2024. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The US believes a major attack by Iran on Israel is imminent and could happen in the coming days, Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources familiar with US and Israeli intelligence assessments.

According to the report, it is a matter of when Tehran will attack rather than if Tehran will attack, but it is still unclear whether it will come from Iranian territory or one of its proxies.

The report also adds that Tehran could use high-precision missiles or drones in its assault.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Israel “must be punished and it shall be” for allegedly attacking an Iranian consular building in Syria’s Damascus earlier this month, killing two generals among several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers.

Strike on Haniyeh’s sons had no connection to hostage negotiations, Israeli official says

Onlookers look at the remains of the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli airstrike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Amid suspicions that the Israeli strike on Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh’s sons was meant to scuttle the hostage talks in Cairo, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel that “the operation has no connection to the negotiations for the release of hostages.”

“Israel will continue eliminating all terrorists.”

Gallant: Israel to open new crossing into northern Gaza to assist delivery of aid

Israel will open a new land crossing into the Gaza Strip designed mainly to facilitate deliveries to Palestinians of aid from overseas or neighboring Jordan, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says in a briefing to the foreign press.

Briefing reporters, Gallant says a new crossing point would be created on the northern part of the Gaza border to reduce the time taken to truck in aid from Ashdod, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

An aide says the crossing point would be between the Israeli village of Zikim and the Palestinian village of As-Siafa.

Gallant says the new crossing point would boost the delivery of aid brought in overland from Jordan, to Israel’s east.

“These breakthroughs have a direct impact on the flow of aid – we plan to flood Gaza with aid,” he says. “It will also streamline security checks and strengthen our work with international partners.”

Earlier today, Army Radio reported that the Defense Ministry was planning on keeping Erez crossing on Gaza’s northern border closed and will instead seek to open a crossing at an alternate site, fearing that protesters on the Israeli side will disrupt the entry of aid into the Strip.

Despite promise to Biden, no steps have been taken to allow Gaza aid to enter via Ashdod Port – report

No preparations have been made to open Ashdod Port to humanitarian shipments earmarked for Gaza, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to US President Joe Biden on the issue, Channel 12’s political correspondent Yaron Avraham reports.

Following a tense conversation with Biden last week in which the US president threatened to condition support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians, Netanyahu pledged to temporarily open up Ashdod Port for humanitarian deliveries.

However, according to Avraham, neither the IDF, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) nor the relevant parties at the Ashdod Port have received instructions regarding the opening of the port, and it is unclear when or if a directive will arrive.

To this end, he reports, US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew spent several hours with Netanyahu yesterday in an attempt to understand which steps, if any, are being taken to open the port.

פרסום ראשון במהדורה | ההבטחה של נתניהו לביידן – שלא מומשה: >> https://t.co/J9cy3mqWPf

— Yaron Avraham ירון אברהם (@yaronavraham) April 10, 2024

Mossad chief said to tell ministers: Can’t get all hostages back ‘at this point in time’

File: Mossad chief David Barnea speaks during the opening ceremony of the Eli Cohen Museum in Herzliya, December 12, 2022. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Reporting more details of last night’s cabinet meeting, Channel 12 says Mossad chief David Barnea told ministers there is no prospect of getting all Hamas-held hostages released right now, and that the only potential deal currently on the table is for 40 hostages in the “humanitarian” category, which refers to women, children, the elderly and the sick.

The TV report says the ministers were given to understand that there was “a low probability” of Hamas accepting the current US proposal for a hostage-truce deal. It then quotes the cabinet discussion as follows:

Transportation Minister Miri Regev: “If there’s no choice but to return the residents of northern Gaza in order to get the hostages back, then that must be done. They’ll go back [to the north] anyway in the end.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin: “I oppose this. It will erode the achievements of the war.”

Regev: “Chief of staff, you said at your press conference marking six months of the war that you can handle any decision made by the political echelon, so do so. Make sure they don’t fire on Sderot. We have drones in the air — every time [a launch of projectiles] is identified, eliminate them from the air.”

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi: “When you choose the solution, we’ll be able to translate your decisions into determined and correct military action. We’ll handle it.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir: “Yes. We’ve seen how you handle it.”

Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem: “We mustn’t agree to a phased deal [for the hostages]. It needs to be one deal for them all.”

Mossad chief David Barnea: “At this point in time, we can’t get them all back. This [deal on the table now] is a humanitarian deal for 40 hostages.”

IDF says fighter jets struck building used by Hezbollah operatives in south Lebanon

The IDF says fighter jets carried out a strike earlier today on a building in southern Lebanon’s Ayta ash-Shab, where Hezbollah operatives were gathered.

Another Hezbollah site was struck in Khiam, the IDF says.

Troops also shelled areas near Naqoura with artillery to “remove threats,” the IDF adds.

The IDF says fighter jets carried out a strike earlier today on a building in southern Lebanon's Ayta ash-Shab, where Hezbollah operatives were gathered.

Another Hezbollah site was struck in Khiam, the IDF says.

Troops also shelled areas near Naqoura with artillery to "remove… pic.twitter.com/mu1bAU0GT5

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 10, 2024

TV report: PM asks IDF chief why he didn’t propose going into south Gaza at start of war

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend a cadets graduation ceremony at the IDF's officers school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1, March 7, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained to IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi at last night’s cabinet meeting that he didn’t suggest sending troops into the south as well as the north of Gaza at the start of the war after October 7, Channel 12 news reports.

The report features quotes from the meeting that show Netanyahu and other ministers sparring with Halevi, as they have done often in the past, over the progress of the war. Last night’s criticism reportedly revolved around the IDF’s withdrawal from Khan Younis last week, and the failure thus far to tackle Hamas in its Rafah stronghold at the southern foot of the Strip.

Criticized by Justice Minister Yariv Levin over the timing of the withdrawal from Khan Younis, Halevi reportedly responded: “We completed the ground operation [there]; it’s done for the time being. We want to refresh the troops and prepare for Rafah. All the activities we’ve done to date are completely as we presented them during cabinet sessions. The IDF does not withdraw forces with the approval of the political echelon.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: “Why do we need to wait? We should already be in Rafah?”

Netanyahu: “Why did you not propose at the start [of the ground operation after October 7] to go into the south as well as the north [of Gaza]?”

Halevi: “Regarding Rafah, I recommend that we not discuss the timing. Once the enemy understands when and where it’s happening, there will be a price to pay in lost lives, more explosive devices and more booby-trapped houses.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev: “We should have been in Rafah a month ago.”

Minister Gadi Eisenkot (apparently referring to Regev): “There is a cabinet minister here who reportedly claims that me and Benny [Gantz] are preventing the Rafah operation. That’s a complete lie. Somebody else in the room is preventing it.” (He was apparently referring to Netanyahu).

Biden says US commitment to Israel’s security is ‘ironclad’ in the face of Iran

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US President Joe Biden says Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security is “ironclad” in the face of threats from Iran.

Speaking at a White House press conference alongside visiting Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Biden says, “We also addressed the Iranian threat, as they threaten to launch a significant attack on Israel. As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad. Let me say it again, ironclad. We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security.”

The comments come amid growing strains in US-Israel ties and a day after the airing of an interview taped last week in which Biden urged Israel to agree to a weeks-long ceasefire in Gaza. Biden didn’t mention the hostages, but the White House said afterward that he was referring to the truce deal currently being negotiated during which the Israeli abductees would be released by Hamas.

US humanitarian envoy for Gaza: Imminent risk of famine for majority of Gaza’s population

File: US envoy for the humanitarian situation in Gaza David Satterfield in October 2023. (Screen capture, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

The Biden administration’s Gaza humanitarian envoy warns “there is an imminent risk of famine for the majority, if not all, the 2.2 million population of Gaza.”

“This is not a point in debate. It is an established fact, which the United States, its experts, the international community, its experts assess and believe is real,” David Satterfield says during a virtual event hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

Israel has pushed back on last month’s UN-backed food security classification that warned of looming famine in northern Gaza, arguing that there is more food and water in Gaza than humanitarian workers have claimed.

“The ability to avert that challenge for that innocent population depends on a dramatic increase in the volume of humanitarian assistance that is distributed into and within Gaza,” Satterfield says.

PM, Gallant weren’t informed of plan to strike Haniyeh’s sons ahead of time – source

Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were made aware of the plan to carry out a strike on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s sons ahead of time and it wasn’t discussed by the war cabinet, an Israeli source tells The Times of Israel.

As a result of the strike, the ongoing negotiations for a temporary truce in the fighting and the release of the 129 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza may be jeopardized, the official says, adding that it’s still too early to know the full implications.

The official says that there has been some suspicion among allies that Netanyahu ordered the strike to undermine the hostage talks, but that such allegations are false.

IDF, Shin Bet confirm killing Haniyeh’s sons, say the three were Hamas operatives ‘en route to carry out terror activity’

A man gestures in front of the car in which three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were reportedly killed in an Israeli air strike in al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City on April 10, 2024. (AFP)

The IDF and Shin Bet confirm killing three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Gaza City’s Shati camp earlier today, saying the three were operatives in the terror group.

According to the IDF and Shin Bet, Amir Haniyeh was a squad commander in the Hamas military wing, while Hazem and Mohammad Haniyeh were lower-ranking operatives, also in the military wing.

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who were allegedly killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on April 10, 2024. (Photo distributed on Palestinian Telegram channels)

The IDF says that the trio were “en route to carry out terror activity in the area of central Gaza” when they were struck.

A military source says the IDF is aware of reports that additional members of the Haniyeh family, including a minor, were hit in the strike. Hamas media said two of Haniyeh’s grandchildren were killed and a third was wounded.

Houthis claim to have targeted four vessels in Gulf of Aden, including US warship

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen claim to have targeted four vessels in the Gulf of Aden, including what it described as a US warship, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea says.

The rebel group says that in addition to allegedly hitting a US warship, it attacked the Panama-flagged MSC Gina and the Liberia-flagged MSC Darwin, which it claims are both Israeli vessels. It also claims to have attacked the US-flagged Maersk Yorktown.

Trump: Jewish people that vote for Biden ‘need their heads examined’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, April 2, 2024. (AP/Mike Roemer)

Former US president Donald Trump claims, “Any Jewish person that votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined.”

“He totally abandoned Israel,” Trump tells reporters of Biden.

Days after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Trump criticized Israel for failing to anticipate the attack, called Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk” and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. More recently, he has spoken in favor of Israel “finishing the job” against Hamas, but has also panned Israel’s handling of the war and said it should finish it up quickly.

Following uproar, security prisoner who was being treated at Hadassah hospital transferred to Sde Teiman army base

A security prisoner who was being treated at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus was transferred to the Sde Teiman military base, which is being used to hold security prisoners and detainees, including those who require medical treatment, Channel 12 reports.

The decision to transfer the prisoner came after the father of Shir Hajaj, who was murdered in a Jerusalem terror attack in 2017 at the age of 22, discovered he was being treated in Hadassah and called on the Health Ministry to end the practice of treating terrorists in Israeli hospitals.

Hamas leader Haniyeh thankful for the ‘honor of martyrdom’ granted to his sons

File: Ismail Haniyeh, the Doha-based political bureau chief of Hamas, speaks to the press after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Tehran on March 26, 2024. (AFP)

Following the killing of three of his sons in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza today, Hamas’s Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh says that he “thanks God for bestowing upon us the honor of their martyrdom.”

In a phone interview broadcast on Al Jazeera, the terror leader vows that the group will not surrender and that such actions will not make it change its goals and demands.

“Their pure blood is for the liberation of Jerusalem and Al Aqsa, and we will continue to march on our road, and will not hesitate and will not falter,” Haniyeh says. “With their blood, we bring about hopes, a future and freedom for our people and our cause.”

Al Jazeera reports that the three men were struck by a drone-launched missile as they were traveling in a car on their way to celebrate with relatives and acquaintances on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which begins today.

Haniyeh adds that nearly 60 members of his family have been “martyred” in the war, and that he has paid the same price as the rest of the Palestinian people.

France’s foreign minister says no immediate plans to impose sanctions on Israel over Gaza crisis

File: French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne speaks during a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw, on January 15, 2024. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP)

France’s foreign minister says there is no immediate plan to impose sanctions on Israel to force it to allow more humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, toning down his stance after tougher remarks made earlier this week.

“There is no plan at this stage for general sanctions against Israel,” Stephane Sejourne tells lawmakers in the National Assembly.

France recently imposed sanctions against some individuals who it says are linked to excessive violence by settlers in the West Bank, and it will “continue to do so,” he says.

His comments came a day after the minister in an interview said sanctions could be an option to exert pressure on Israel’s government, earning both praise and outrage as Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza divides public opinion in France, home to both large Muslim and Jewish minorities.

Police say no indication of evidence tampering during investigation into Yuval Castleman’s death

The Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) ends its examination of alleged evidence tampering by police in the investigation of the killing of Yuval Castleman in December, who shot terrorists carrying out an attack in Jerusalem but was himself shot and killed by an off-duty IDF soldier.

An autopsy performed on Castleman’s body after it was exhumed found an M-16 bullet and pieces of shrapnel in his body, which contradicted the Israel Police’s position immediately after the incident that there were no bullets in Castleman’s body and that an autopsy was unnecessary.

This discrepancy led State Attorney Amit Eisman to open an examination into the conduct of the investigative team dealing with Castleman’s death.

DIPI said that it took testimony from those involved in the investigation of Castleman’s killing, including medical personnel and police officials, and Castleman’s family members.

“After examining the evidence and the sequence of events, it was found that the conduct of the investigation team did not give rise to a suspicion that any of the police officials sought to interfere with the investigation procedures,” DIPI states.

“The evidence shows that the Israel Police’s erroneous conclusion was based on the evidence that was placed before it at the time, which led it to believe honestly and in good faith that no bullets were found in the deceased’s body.”

The agency said that there was therefore “no doubt that there was no underlying intention to interfere with the investigation procedures.”

DIPI adds that the closing of its examination into this affair has no bearing on the military police’s investigation of Castleman’s death.

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli strike in Gaza City – report

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who were allegedly killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on April 10, 2024. (Photo distributed on Palestinian Telegram channels)

Three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli bombing in Gaza City’s Shati Camp, Al Jazeera reports.

The report says several of their children, Haniyeh’s grandchildren, were also killed in the strike.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike.

Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, is the political leader of Hamas.

Senior Democrat: I want assurances before allowing F-15 sale to Israel due to ‘indiscriminate bombing’

US Rep. Gregory Meeks speaks during a news conference outside the USPS Jamaica station, August 18, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

A senior US Democratic lawmaker says he wants to receive assurances from the Biden administration that US weapons won’t be used for further “indiscriminate bombing” by Israel before signing off on the anticipated sale of F-15 fighter jets to Jerusalem.

“I’m waiting for assurances… I want to make sure I know the types of weapons and what the weapons will be utilized for… I think it’s enough, what has taken place in Gaza,” says Rep. Gregory Meeks, who is the ranking Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The State Department is obligated to provide advance notification to Meeks of any arms sales, and the ranking member has the ability to place a hold on those transfers.

“It’s enough of the indiscriminate bombing. I don’t want the kinds of weapons Israel has to be utilized to have more death. I want to make sure humanitarian aid gets in, and I don’t want people starving to death,” Meeks adds.

“I think that Hamas needs to let the hostages go now, and there should be proper pressure on Hamas to let the hostages go. I think that’s what the people in Israel are crying for,” he says.

https://twitter.com/bdlimm/status/1778061628363129095

Germany arrests alleged ISIS members on suspicion of crimes against humanity, enslaving Yazidi girls

A tent at a Yazidi refugee camp in August, 2016. (IsraAID)

German police have arrested an Iraqi couple alleged to be Islamic State members, on suspicion of genocide and crimes against humanity for enslaving two Yazidi girls, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Twana H. S. and Asia R. A., whose surnames were not released under German privacy law, were arrested on Tuesday for their treatment of the girls between 2015 and 2017 in Iraq and Syria.

Prosecutors said the girls were physically abused, repeatedly raped and banned from practicing their religion. The couple handed the girls to other IS members before leaving Syria in November 2017, said prosecutors in a statement.

“All of this served the organization’s objective to destroy the Yazidi religion,” they added.

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world to bring such cases to trial.

Father of terror victim calls on Health Ministry to ban hospitals from treating security prisoners

The father of Shir Hajaj, who was murdered in a Jerusalem terror attack in 2017 at the age of 22, calls on the Health Ministry to end the practise of treating terrorists in Israeli hospitals.

Herzl Hajaj’s demand comes after he discovered that a security prisoner was receiving treatment at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus, Ynet reports.

Speaking to Ynet about his one-man protest outside the hospital, Hajaj says it’s unreasonable “for terrorists to be hospitalized in VIP rooms in hospitals,” no matter how they are.

“These terrorists murdered, butchered and slaughtered our children, and it’s unreasonable that we should have to treat them,” he says.

Calling for the Health Ministry to put an end to the treatment of terrorists in public hospitals, he adds that “it doesn’t make sense that these terrorists, who have no right to treatment, who are not human beings at all, would occupy a bed in an Israeli hospital.”

In response, Hadassah Medical Center tells Ynet that the Health Ministry is responsible for the decision to send security detainees to Israeli hospitals and that the individual hospital is not granted insight into the decisions or the circumstances of the arrested individual.

In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, then health minister Moshe Arbel ordered public hospitals and health services to redirect injured terrorists to IDF or prison service medical facilities. However, by December, reports indicated that the order had been reversed and terror suspects were once again undergoing treatment in Israeli facilities.

In Sderot, Gantz again calls for government to adopt his universal IDF enlistment plan

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz calls for the adoption of his universal enlistment plan, insisting that while Israelis should not let themselves believe “that all the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs will serve tomorrow morning,” they “must also not give up on the real promotion of such a process.”

Speaking after a faction meeting of his National Unity party in the southern city of Sderot, Gantz says, “If there is someone who is willing to abandon the value of the service and security needs, and promote a plan of evasion – he will be held responsible,” in an apparent reiteration of his previous threat to bolt the coalition over the enlistment issue.

Gantz: Hamas has been defeated militarily but we’ll fight against remnants for years to come

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz's National Unity party holds a faction meeting in the southern city of Sderot, April 10, 2024. (Courtesy)

While Israeli soldiers will continue to fight in the Gaza Strip for years to come, Hamas has been defeated militarily, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz states, following a faction meeting of his National Unity party in the southern city of Sderot.

“Fighting against Hamas will take time. Boys who are now in middle school will still fight in the Gaza Strip, like in Judea and Samaria and against Lebanon,” the former IDF chief of staff declares.

However, “from a military point of view – Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding” and its capabilities “crippled,” he continues, stating that “victory will come step by step” and that Israel “will not stop. We will enter Rafah. We will return to Khan Younis. And we will operate in Gaza. Wherever there are terrorist targets – the IDF will be there.”

Gantz’s comments come after the Israel Defense Forces withdrew all of its maneuvering ground forces from the Gaza Strip early Sunday morning, leaving just one brigade to secure a corridor splitting the Palestinian enclave.

Hamas’ military defeat must be accompanied by its replacement as the ruling body in the Gaza Strip and the strengthening of Israel’s regional position in the Middle East, Gantz continues, stating that “the most urgent moral and national need is to return our hostages.”

“Besides military pressure, political pressure is also of utmost importance. I also discussed this with senior officials in the US and in the region – now is the time to use all the levers on Hamas,” he says, praising Israel’s negotiating team for “making tremendous efforts.”

Supreme Court to hear case on Haredi conscription to the IDF on June 2

A man holds a sign reading 'It would be better for our children to be killed than to become secular' during a protest by ultra-Orthodox men against IDF conscription, outside the city of Bnei Brak, April 1, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Supreme Court announces that a hearing on the conscription of ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, men to the IDF will take place on June 2, Channel 13 reports. A temporary cabinet measure that gave a blanket exemption to ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students expired on April 1

Earlier this week, the government asked for permission to obtain independent legal representation for the upcoming hearing, rather than be represented by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom many in the government have strong disagreements with.

The hearing will take place with an expanded panel of nine judges, a significant increase from the mandatory three judges that most cases require.

After the government failed to find a way to comply with a court ruling from 2017, which determined blanket military service exemptions for Haredi yeshiva students to be discriminatory and illegal, by March 31, Baharav-Miara told the Defense Ministry and Education Ministry that it must begin the process of drafting members of the ultra-Orthodox community. She also warned against any attempts to continue funding yeshivas that harbor students who dodge their army service.

State requests 5-day extension to give High Court information on Gaza humanitarian crisis

The government requests a five-day extension for providing additional information to the High Court of Justice regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and its efforts to alleviate a potential famine there.

The court requested the information following a hearing last week on petitions asking the court to order the government to provide unhindered access to Gaza for humanitarian supplies and accusing the government of obstructing relief efforts.

The state says in its request that not all the relevant officials and authorities have been able to produce the required information yet.

The government points out that it has already begun efforts to increase the supply of humanitarian aid since the High Court hearing, including approving a cabinet resolution to that end and empowering the prime minister, defense minister, and War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz to formulate security cabinet policy on the issue.

It also says that the supply of humanitarian aid has already increased since the hearing, and states that 1,174 trucks entered Gaza from April 7 to 9, 789 of them bearing food. The state’s response also noted that 106 trucks that entered the territory from the south went to northern Gaza where hunger and malnutrition are most acute, and another 21 trucks entered northern Gaza from Israel through Crossing 96, which has recently been partially opened.

Osnat Lipshitz-Cohen, representing the Gisha organization, which filed the petition, says it is “totally opposed” to the state’s request for an extension.

“In view of the fact that the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the north of the Gaza Strip continues to do fatal harm to children and other vulnerable populations, the court must reject the request and order the submission of the response immediately,” Lipshitz-Cohen tells the court.

Israel would allow 150,000 Palestinians to return to northern Gaza in temporary truce deal – report

File: Palestinians try to cross back into northern Gaza as an Israeli tank blocks the Salah al-Din road in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, as the temporary ceasefire goes into effect. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Israel has agreed in truce and hostage release deal talks taking place in Cairo to concessions on the return of Palestinians to the north of the enclave, but believes the Hamas terror organization does not want to strike a deal, Israeli officials say.

Two officials with knowledge of the talks say that under a US proposal for a truce, Israel would allow the return of 150,000 Palestinians to north Gaza with no security checks.

In return, they say, Hamas would be required to give a list of female, elderly and sick hostages it still holds alive.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declines to comment, and Hamas said on Tuesday that the latest proposal passed on by Egyptian and Qatari mediators did not meet demands, but that it would study it further before responding.

Israel’s assessment is that Hamas does not want to strike a deal yet, the two Israeli officials say.

Hamas-run health ministry says Gaza war death toll approaching 33,500

At least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed and 76,049 have been wounded in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run health ministry says in a statement.

Figures issued by the terror group cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including from the terror group’s own rocket misfires.

The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 and abducted 253, of whom 129 are still held captive, not all of them alive. The IDF has lost 260 soldiers since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza.

Israel Prize awarded to ex-MK who died a day ago

The Education Ministry says it is awarding the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement to Edna Solodar, a former Knesset member and fighter in Israel’s War of Independence who died yesterday at the age of 94, the government announces.

In an unusual term of events, the notice said, the selection committee had decided on Solodar yesterday but then learned of her passing. Education Minister Yoav Kisch, whose ministry oversees the Israel Prize, notified her sister of the posthumous award shortly after. Solodar’s funeral is to be held today.

Edna Solodar. (Knesset website)

Solodar was born in 1930 during the British Mandate and grew up in Kibbutz Gesher. She was 18 when the War of Independence broke out in 1948 and was a member of the Haganah, serving as a radio operator and communications operative.

A former music teacher, Solodar was active in the Kibbutz Movement and entered politics in the 1980s, eventually serving as a Knesset member in1982-1992 for the Labor party and for the Alignment party, a smaller faction which had merged with the then-dominant Labor.

“Ms. Edna Solodar is a symbol of female leadership and with her extraordinary life path, reflects the face of Israeli society…she was a kibbutz movement leader and as part of her many years of parliamentary activity, worked to strengthen the periphery, preserve natural heritage, encouraged agricultural settlements and was a model for unity and connection,” the government statement says.

The Israel Prize has been given posthumously several times in the past, most notably for poet Leah Goldberg in 1970, who had passed away that same year.

In a separate notice sent today, veteran filmmaker Moshe Edri also received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement, for his “groundbreaking work and significant contribution to Hebrew arts and to the encouragement of Israeli cinema.”

Edri, 74, was born in Morocco and immigrated with his family at a young age to Dimona, where he developed a lifelong interest in cinema. An extremely important figure in the Israeli film industry, he is the producer and director of dozens of classic Israeli films. Edri, along with his brother Leon and other partners, also owns a film distribution company and the Cinema City theater chain, among other ventures.

The Israel Prize is handed out during the national Independence Day ceremony, which this year falls on May 14. The event is to be held this year in Sderot instead of Jerusalem, the latest twist in a series of controversies around this year’s prize, which at one point saw the regular categories removed in favor of two newly created war-related awards. The former have now been restored alongside the new prizes.

Israel will attack territory of anyone who attacks it, Gallant says in message to Iran

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to troops at an Iron Dome battery in northern Israel, April 10, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Amid threats by Iran to respond to the alleged assassination by Israel of two generals among several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers in Syria’s Damascus, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says any attack on the country will face stiff defensive measures, before a “powerful response in its territory.”

“In this war, we are being attacked from more than one front… from different directions. Any enemy that tries to attack us will first of all be met with stiff defense,” Gallant says to troops at an Iron Dome air defense system battery in northern Israel.

“But we will know how to react very quickly with a decisive offensive action against the territory of whoever attacks our territory, no matter where it is, in the entire Middle East,” he says.

“We have this ability,” Gallant continues, saying that a potential Israeli response will be ” very, very effective, very powerful.”

“One of the things we excel at over the years is that the enemy never knows what surprises we are preparing for it,” he adds.

Hamas reported to reject US truce proposal, will offer own plan instead

Hamas has rejected a US proposal for a Gaza truce and hostage release, and will instead put out its own “roadmap” for ending the war in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing mediators.

The paper reports that Hamas’s main issue is that it does not include a reference to ending the war. The group will put out its own proposal instead later this week, based on an earlier proffer, the paper reports.

The earlier offer was for a staged deal in which Israel would release prisoners for some hostages, along with a partial troop withdrawal and unfettered access to northern Gaza for displaced Palestinians, with more hostages to be released later once all troops withdraw.

The broadsheet also quotes an Israeli official saying that Jerusalem was not totally behind the proposal, which it saw as favoring Hamas too much, but was willing to use the offer as the basis for talks.

The official says there is a majority of the Israeli government that will back a deal despite tough concessions.

The paper reports that Israel is open to using the Hamas counterproposal as the basis for “serious negotiations,” so long as the proposal advances efforts, citing the official.

Minister says he won’t support a partial hostage release deal

Minister David Amsalem at the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 19, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Minister David Amsalem says he will not support a truce deal with Hamas that does not free all hostages, saying doing a deal in stages, as current proposals support, will worsen chances for civilian men and soldiers left behind.

“I will vote no. It’s not moral, not ethical and not right,” he tells Army Radio, noting that he made his position clear during a cabinet meeting the night before..

“You can’t divide the deals,” Amsalem says. “There needs to be only one deal. Those not included in a first deal, it’s safe to assume, [their freedom] will be pushed much further away.”

“You don’t bring 40 people and leave the rest in the same situation,” he adds, saying those not included will be in a deeper crisis.

He notes that Israel will also find it harder to negotiate for the freedom of just soldiers, as it will lose some measure of the moral upper hand in the eyes of others.

“The world won’t call them hostages. They’ll be POWs,” he says.

Amsalem also accuses the IDF spokesperson of lying about the withdrawal of troops from everywhere in Gaza but a corridor running through the center of the Strip.

“It is a lie,” he says. “We have many forces inside Gaza fighting on a daily basis.”

Iron Dome downs rocket fired at Kiryat Shmona

One rocket fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Kiryat Shmona a short while ago was shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, the IDF says.

Sirens had sounded in Kiryat Shmona and nearby communities.

There are no reports of damage or injuries.

Lebanese man accused of funneling money from Iran to Hamas found shot to death

Mohammad Sarur in an undated photo posted to social media. (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

A Lebanese man under US sanctions for allegedly funneling money from Iran to Hamas has been killed just outside Beirut, a security source tells AFP.

The body of Mohammad Sarur was found Tuesday in a villa in the mountain town of Beit Mery, the source says, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

He had been struck by more than five bullets and was found in possession of an undisclosed sum of money that the killers did not touch, the source adds.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported late Tuesday that the body of a 57-year-old Lebanese man, identified by initials that correspond to Sarur’s, had been found in an area near Beit Mery.

The security source confirms to AFP that Sarur worked for financial institutions belonging to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

In August 2019, the US Treasury announced sanctions against several people including Sarur, accusing them of funneling “tens of millions of dollars” from the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards through Hezbollah in Lebanon “to Hamas for terrorist attacks originating from the Gaza Strip.”

The Treasury said Sarur “served as a middleman” between the Guards’ Quds Force and Hamas “and worked with Hezbollah operatives to ensure funds were provided” to Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz-a-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

“As of 2014, Sarur was identified as in charge of all money transfers” between the Quds Force and the Qassam Brigades, the Treasury added.

Israel reportedly moving northern Gaza crossing locale to elude aid truck protests

Israeli protesters, including relatives of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas, wave national flags and hold placards during a demonstration aimed at blocking aid trucks from entering the Palestinian territory, on the Israeli side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the southern Gaza Strip on January 29, 2024. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

Army Radio reports that the Defense Ministry is planning on keeping the Erez crossing on Gaza’s northern border closed and will instead seek to open a crossing at an alternate site, fearing that protesters on the Israeli side will disrupt the entry of aid into the Strip.

The report does not say where the new crossing will be placed, but says it will be “less central” in hopes that protesters will have a harder time getting there and blocking trucks than they would at Erez, which sits at the terminus of a major highway.

Defense officials fear police will not be able to be relied upon to keep protesters away given hard-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s control over the force, Army Radio says.

Israeli protesters, largely from the right side of the political spectrum, have attempted to block aid trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing, arguing that relief should be withheld until the hostages held in Gaza are freed.

However, the report says defense officials are concerned that a drop in the amount of aid reaching Gazans could result in the international community putting embargos on arms sales to Israel.

Security beefed up around PSG-Barcelona soccer match after Islamic State threat

A French police officer stands guard as Barcelona football players arrive by bus at the Parc des Princes stadium, in Paris on April 9, 2024. (FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

French police are tightening security around Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG) Parc des Princes stadium on Wednesday following a threat of attacks by Islamic State that adds to security worries ahead of the upcoming summer Olympics.

PSG play Barcelona later in a Champions League soccer quarterfinal to be viewed by millions around the world.

Spain and Britain also doubled down this week around their respective Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday after the resurgent Islamic State terror group urged attacks against host venues, including with drones.

At PSG’s Parc des Princes stadium on Wednesday, police are towing away parked cars and installing concrete blocks.

Islamic State has urged followers to recreate a November 2015 attack on the Stade de France stadium, featuring an image of the Parc des Princes stadium, according to Site Intelligence group, which tracks Islamic terrorist postings.

Another image seen by Site Intelligence urged terrorists to use drones to attack the stadiums.

Spain said it had deployed more than 2,000 officers to boost security in Madrid for the games there.

Islamic State’s Afghan branch, known as ISIS-K, has been particularly active in recent months. The group claimed responsibility for a mass-fatality attack at a concert near Moscow last month, and also carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed nearly 100 people earlier this year.

UNIFIL chief warns of escalation in north

The head of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon expresses worries that hostilities on the border with Israel will continue to spiral out of control, calling for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

“The danger of escalation is real,” Aroldo Lazaro says in a statement posted by UNIFIL. “There is no military solution to the current confrontation and violence; a political and diplomatic solution is the only way forward.”

The statement does not mention Hezbollah’s flagrant violations of UN Resolution 1701, which requires that the group’s armed wing not be allowed to operate in southern Lebanon.

Israel has threatened to go to war to force the Iran-backed terror group away from the border if it does not retreat in line with 1701 and continues to threaten northern communities.

Speaking to Army Radio, Education Minister Yoav Kisch says the government must do something about the north, where a daily barrage of Hezbollah rockets have forced tens of thousands to flee the Upper Galilee. He insists that residents of the north cannot still be homeless when the next school year begins.

“There’s five months until the school year starts — within this time there has to either be an agreement with Lebanon or a war,” he says.

Police reportedly mulling probe into Tel Aviv U lecturer who eulogized terror convict

Police may open a criminal investigation into a Tel Aviv University lecturer who eulogized Palestinian terror convict Walid Daqqa, who died in jail last week, the Ynet news site reports.

In a post on Facebook, Anat Matar, a senior lecturer in Tel Aviv’s Philosophy Department, called Daqqa a “dear and beloved friend” and “an endless source of inspiration.”

She also offered condolences to Daqqa’s family and the Palestinian people over the loss of “one of its greatest sons.”

Daqqa, an Israeli citizen sentenced to life behind bars for being part of a cell that abducted and killed Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984, died of cancer last week at age 62.

According to Ynet, police need permission from the state prosecutor to open a probe into Matar for supporting terror.

Matar’s post drew protests from right-wing groups and some students, who held a rally last week calling on the university to fire the veteran academic and activist, the site reported.

The school told Ynet it condemned her remarks, and said they would be looked at in terms of whether she violated the school’s free speech guidelines.

Matar, head of the Israeli Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners, has long been known as a strident critic of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians. In 2011, she co-authored a book on Palestinians incarcerated by Israel for security offenses, calling into question Israel’s approach toward legal procedures and treatment of inmates.

Conservative NYT columnist Stephens joins clamor against Netanyahu

New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens. (Jason Smith via JTA)

Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens calls for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down in a new column, showing the breadth of discontent with the Israeli leader even among pro-Israel hawks.

“Netanyahu’s disastrous engagement with Hamas before it carried out the Oct. 7 massacre and his conduct of the war since have made [his departure] vital,” Stephens writes. “In a thousand years, Jews will remember Netanyahu’s name with scorn — all the more so for his refusal to take responsibility for anything.”

Netanyahu has said that holding elections mid-war would harm the military effort and hostage talks, but “that argument looks increasingly self-serving the longer the war drags out,” Stephens writes.

“It’s dangerous for a country at war to be led by someone the people neither support nor trust,” he adds, noting opinion polls that show most Israelis would not vote for Netanyahu’s Likud party or its allies were elections held now.

An Israeli protester carries a sign citing New York Times columnist Bret Stephens at a demonstration in Tel Aviv on March 2, 2019, against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo by Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Stephens previously called for Netanyahu’s ouster in 2019 due to his fraud indictments and increasing dalliance with the far right. At the time, he praised Netanyahu’s leadership, calling him “a remarkably effective prime minister.”

Jerusalem afternoon daycare workers declare 2-day strike over salary demands

Some 900 workers at Jerusalem’s city-funded afternoon daycare programs are on strike today and tomorrow, with an additional strike approved for April 30, the Union of Afterschool Workers say in a statement.

The strikers, including caretakers and aides, are protesting what they say is a refusal by the Jerusalem municipality to engage in negotiations around working conditions and compensation. Workers who run the afternoon programs have not had their salaries updated since 2018 and are paid on average 25 percent less than the morning kindergarten teachers and aides they replace, the union says.

The union also cites planned changes to the administration of the program, which the city will not guarantee won’t affect working conditions, as an issue they want solved.

In a statement, the Jerusalem municipality says the strike is “unjustified and completely unnecessary,” and adds that the city has offered “far-reaching proposals” to the union, which have been rejected.

The statement notes that salaries for afterschool aides are determined by the Education Ministry at the start of each school year, and that in most cases the aides are not directly employed by the city.

In Israel, kindergartens usually run until the early afternoon, and then an optional afternoon daycare program takes over the care of the children until the end of the working day.

Spanish PM says Israeli attacks on Hamas threaten world safety

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Israel’s “disproportionate response” in the war with Hamas risks “destabilizing the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world.”

Speaking to Parliament, Sanchez also insists that the recognition of a Palestinian state, long resisted by Israel and its key allies, is “in Europe’s geopolitical interests.”

Times of Israel, Channel 12 reporters win award for Jewish Diaspora coverage

Canaan Lidor. (Courtesy)

Times of Israel correspondent Canaan Lidor and Channel 12 reporter Elad Simchayoff are announced as this year’s winners of B’nai B’rith’s annual journalism award for coverage of the Jewish Diaspora.

Lidor, The Times of Israel’s religion and Diaspora correspondent, receives the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem’s Award for Journalism Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage for 2024 in the written media category, B’nai B’rith writes in a statement Wednesday.

Simchayoff, European correspondent for Channel 12 News, is recognized in the broadcast media category.

Lidor, who returned to his native Haifa in 2021 from the Netherlands after covering Europe and its Jews for over a decade, receives the award for his 2023 coverage in The Times of Israel of the Netherlands, Tunisia, the US and beyond, B’nai B’rith writes.

Simchayoff, who lives in London, is honored for his coverage on the rise of antisemitism in Europe following October 7 and for his “One a Day” podcast series, the Jewish group’s statement says.

Report claims Israel thinks deal chances fading thanks to Khan Younis retreat, aid uptick

A report claims Israeli officials are blaming the pullback of troops from Khan Younis and the surge in humanitarian aid reaching the Strip for the expected failure of hostage-truce talks in Cairo, saying Hamas won’t compromise after getting so much for free.

According to the Ynet news site, officials in Jerusalem think both moves “really hurt negotiations.”

“We gave up our strong bargaining chips for nothing,” and now Hamas’s position is even tougher to crack, Ynet quotes “Israeli sources” saying. “Hamas is digging in with its demands for an end to a war and a troop withdrawal, and is determined to play tricks with the mediators.”

The moves are thought by some to be the result of US pressure as President Joe Biden’s administration has taken a tougher line against Israeli operations in the Strip and the pace of aid, threatening to pull back support. The army says it pulled out of Khan Younis because operations there were over and troops need a break before a planned push into Rafah.

Battles persisting in central Gaza corridor held by troops, IDF says

IDF soldiers operate inside the Gaza Strip in an undated handout photo published April 10, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says Nahal Brigade soldiers are still battling Hamas gunmen in the central Gaza corridor that is the only location where troops remain in the enclave.

The IDF says Nahal troops killed several gunmen over the past day, including a cell in close-quarters combat.

Troops have withdrawn from the north and south of the Strip, but remain in the so-called Netzarim corridor, a strip of land running from the border with Israel near Be’eri to the coast.

The corridor, built around a road south of Gaza City and north of Nuseirat, enables the IDF to carry out raids in northern and central Gaza while allowing Israel to control access to the north for Palestinians seeking to return after fleeing south.

The corridor also allows Israel to operate a crossing with nearly direct access to northern Gaza for trucks of humanitarian goods, which are secured by the army while using the artery.

The army says it is continuing to carry out airstrikes across the Strip, hitting dozens of targets with fighter jets and drones over the past day.

According to the IDF, the targets included military sites, rocket launchers, tunnel shafts, and other infrastructure

One airstrike also targeted a Hamas cell that posed a threat to ground troops, the IDF says.

Among the sites hit are a building and rocket launcher in Jabaliya in northern Gaza used to fire a rocket at Kfar Aza a day earlier. The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome.

A fighter jet also struck a launcher, after troops on a pinpoint raid in the area of Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood came under rocket fire from within the Strip, the military says.

Katz says Israel will attack Iran directly if retaliation to consulate attack originates there

An Iranian attack on Israel from its own soil, rather than via proxy groups, would invite an Israeli retaliation in kind, Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatens on X.

“If Iran attacks from its own territory, Israel will respond and attack in Iran,” Katz tweets in Hebrew and Persian, tagging Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The threat comes moments after Khamenei tells a crowd in Tehran that “the evil regime made a mistake and must be punished and it shall be,” referring to an April 1 attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus allegedly carried out by Israel.

Report claims Hamas could agree to release some hostages before permanent ceasefire

The Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper reports that Hamas is willing to consider a hostage release deal in which troops would gradually retreat from the Strip and Israel eventually agree to an end to the fighting, along with complete access to the north for all displaced Gazans, and what the paper calls a “proportionate” release of Palestinian prisoners.

The paper, quoting “sources involved in the ongoing negotiations,” says Hamas has told Qatar and Egypt that it is not interested in any further discussion unless its conditions are met, claiming this is the same stance it presented in the last round of talks.

“Arab and international parties will not succeed in amending the position,” a source tells Al-Akhbar.

Nonetheless, the reported stance does appear to open the door for the possibility of Israel getting some hostages out without first committing to a permanent end to the war or withdrawing all troops, which Hamas had previously insisted on.

According to the sources, Hamas is willing to eventually release all captives, including soldiers and remains, over three 42-day stages.

The first stage would see troops, who are only deployed in a corridor through central Gaza, move away from Al-Rashid Road on the coast toward the eastern side of the Strip, allowing unfettered movement to the north. Aerial activity would cease, meaning an end to Israeli airstrikes or reconnaissance missions over the enclave.

During this stage, Hamas would release all civilian women, children, elderly and sick hostages, in exchange for Palestinian women, minors, elderly and infirm prisoners, at a rate of 30 inmates for every Israeli.

Hamas would then release female soldiers, at a price of 50 Palestinians, including 30 serving life sentences and 20 others chosen by Hamas, per soldier.

Israel would also have to release all 48 prisoners from the Gilad Shalit deal who were rearrested.

The second stage would see the release of male soldiers and male hostages in exchange for prisoners. The stage would only commence once Israel commits to a permanent ceasefire and all troops withdraw from Gaza.

The third stage would include the exchange of bodies and the comprehensive reconstruction of Gaza, as well as an end to Israel’s blockade on the Strip.

The agreement would also see Israel allow 600 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily from the start, including 50 filled with fuel; 300 of the trucks would be earmarked for northern Gaza. Heavy machinery for clearing rubble would also need to be allowed in from the first stage.

Iran supreme leader says Israel ‘must be punished’ for consulate strike

Iranian worshippers perform Eid al-Fitr prayer marking the end of the Muslims holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says Tehran will retaliate for Israel’s alleged bombing of a consulate building in Damascus earlier this month.

“When they attack the consulate, it is as if they have attacked our soil,” Khamenei says in a sermon following Eid al-Fitr prayers at Tehran’s Grand Mosque, where a large crowd has gathered to mark the end of Ramadan. “The evil regime made a mistake and must be punished, and shall be punished.”

Seven officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed in the April 1 strike, including two of its top figures in Syria.

Iran has repeatedly vowed that it will retaliate, setting Israel on edge, though responses thus far have only been verbal.

Khamenei also criticized the West, particularly the US and Britain, for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

“It was expected they [would] prevent [Israel] in this disaster. They did not. They did not fulfil their duties, the Western governments,” he says.

Khamenei adds that Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza “embittered” Muslims during Ramadan, accusing Israel of killing 30,000 innocents in Gaza.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 33,000 people in the Strip have been killed in the fighting so far, a figure that cannot be independently verified and includes both fighters and civilians. Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 Hamas or affiliated gunmen in battle.

Three killed on West Bank roads in hours

A vehicle involved in a crash near the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank on April 10, 2024. (Fire and Rescue Service)

Three people have been killed in two separate road incidents in the West Bank over the past few hours, Israeli first responders say.

A single-vehicle crash on Route 1 near the Nabi Musa junction south of Jericho in the Jordan Valley claimed the lives of a man and woman, the Magen David Adom rescue service says.

Both were declared dead by first responders at the scene after their car overturned sometime around 3:30 a.m., according to MDA.

Emergency responders also report the death of a 24-year-old man killed in a collision with another vehicle near the Tapuah junction in the northern West Bank near the settlement of Ariel.

A video shows Israeli firefighters using a Jaws of Life to extract the man from a heavily damaged vehicle on its side following the crash, which occurred just before 7 a.m.

A second man, in his 40s, is taken to a hospital in moderate condition, MDA says.

It is unclear if the victims in either incident are Israeli or Palestinian.

The crashes occur as heavy rainstorms move through the region, creating slick conditions on roads, though it is unclear if the weather played a role in either incident.

Pelosi: Netanyahu only cares about his own survival

Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi says Benjamin Netanyahu is only concerned with his own political survival, in comments published by one-time Barack Obama aide David Axelrod, who hosted her for a live podcast interview this week at Arizona State University.

“I’ve said this to Netanyahu over the years, ‘I don’t know whether you don’t know how to make peace, you don’t want to make peace, or you’re afraid of peace. But you could doing so much more instead of just throwing red meat to [the] crowd, which is he what he did,” the California congresswoman says.

She cites Netanyahu’s family background, but adds “No, I think he’s interested in one thing, his own survival, and that’s it.”

Did a live #AxeFiles event w/⁦@SpeakerPelosi⁩ at @ASU yesterday, at which she absolutely unloaded on
⁦⁦@netanyahu⁩. pic.twitter.com/1mdS0G5jka

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) April 9, 2024

The reference to Netanyahu’s family background may be a nod to his father, Benzion Netanyahu, a scholar of the Spanish Inquisition, whose hawkish views and expertise on antisemitic genocide have been said to have infused the prime minister with a hardline zeal and perception of the Jewish people’s survival constantly at stake.

Some cabinet ministers said considering opposing truce deal if not all hostages freed

Some senior cabinet ministers are considering opposing a hostages-for-truce deal currently negotiated because it will only include the release of some captives held by Hamas, not all of them, according to the Haaretz daily.

The newspaper reports that the unidentified ministers believe the next hostage agreement could be the last and that it would be even more difficult to reach a deal later, as it would include male soldiers, while noting the previous deal was implemented over four months ago.

The ministers also reportedly believe Israel will have a weaker hand in future talks, and are therefore willing to make significant concessions in the ongoing negotiations to secure the release of all the hostages.

In Eid greetings, Blinken mentions West Bank Palestinians alongside world’s most oppressed Muslims

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, on April 9, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

In a statement marking Eid Al-Fitr, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlights the plight of Palestinians in the West Bank alongside Muslims suffering in some of the world’s worst conflicts.

“Our thoughts turn to the plight of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, civilians in Syria, women suffering under the Taliban in Afghanistan, Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China, Rohingya in Burma and Bangladesh and far too many others,” Blinken says.

The decision to lump Palestinians in the West Bank along with those enduring war crimes and genocide highlights the severity with which the Biden administration views the Palestinian plight in the West Bank, where they live under Israeli military control.

“Far too many have lost loved ones over the past year and many more are concerned for the safety and security of their families today. I hope that this year’s Eid al-Fitr marks a moment on a path to more hopeful, free, and peaceful times ahead,” Blinken says.

“The United States is committed to standing up for human rights for people around the world, to providing humanitarian aid where it is desperately needed, and to working to bring about enduring peace, dignity, and safety of all communities,” he adds, wishing Muslim communities around the world an Eid Mubarak and praying for a more peaceful year ahead.

Hamas said refusing Israeli demand for release of 40 living hostages in truce deal

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip and their supporters call for a deal to release the captives, outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, April 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Israel has told Hamas that it must release 40 living hostages as part of a proposed truce agreement, Israeli television networks report.

According to the reports, Hamas has claimed it in order to do so, it would have to release male Israeli troops, as the terror group isn’t in possession of 40 living elderly, women and female soldiers. Hamas however is refusing to free any male soldiers it captured on October 7 and wants to release fewer than 40 hostages, the Kan public broadcaster says, while describing the issue as the biggest obstacle in the ongoing negotiations.

The broadcaster also says Israel is demanding the 40 hostages be freed during the first stage of the proposed weeks-long ceasefire deal, and quotes an Israeli official insisting Hamas does in fact have 40 captives who meet the criteria for release.

Channel 12 news, which has a similar report, cites a senior diplomatic official who accuses Hamas chief in Gaza Yahha Sinwar “of constantly dragging his feet and opposing an agreement.”

White House denies Biden’s urging of Israel ‘to just call for a ceasefire’ marks policy shift

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (back) greets US President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, October 18, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

The White House flatly denies a shift in policy after US President Joe Biden called on Israel to agree to a six-to-eight week ceasefire.

While Biden appeared to be calling on Israel to unilaterally agree to a ceasefire because he made no mention of Hamas or a hostage deal in the Univision interview recorded last week and that aired tonight, a senior White House official says Biden was referring to the truce that is currently being negotiated by his administration, which would see some 40 hostages released over a six-to-eight week period.

“There is no change in our position. The president was reiterating our longstanding position: we are calling for an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks as part of a hostage deal,” the official says.

“His quote [to Univision] makes that clear. This is in line with what he said at the State of the Union, and that we’ve repeatedly said,” the senior White House official adds.

US military says it destroyed Houthi missile likely fired at ship in Gulf of Aden

The US military says that it has destroyed an inbound anti-ship ballistic missile over the Gulf of Aden that was launched by Iranian-backed Houthis and likely targeting the MV Yorktown.

US Central Command says on the social media site X that there are no injuries or damage reported to US, coalition or commercial ships in the incident.

Biden urges Israel to ‘just call for’ 6-8 week ceasefire in Gaza war

US President Joe Biden speaks at Union Station in Washington on April 9, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP)

US President Joe Biden has urged Israel “to just call for” a six-to-eight-week ceasefire.

“What I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into the country,” Biden tells the Univision, a US Spanish-language TV network.

“I’ve spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They’re prepared to move in,” Biden says. “They’re prepared to move this food in. And I think there’s no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now.”

Asked whether Netanyahu is more concerned about political survival than Israelis’ national interest, Biden responds, “I think what he’s doing is a mistake… I don’t agree with his approach.”

The Univision interview was taped last Wednesday — two days after the IDF’s deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy and a day before he held a call with Netanyahu during which he reportedly threatened to cease support of Israel during the war unless Jerusalem made major changes to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hours after the call, the security cabinet approved a series of gestures aimed at significantly boosting aid to Gaza. The past several days have seen the largest number of aid trucks enter the Strip since the war’s outbreak, and the US has welcomed the steps in what might explain why Washington has not gone on to make the same call for a unilateral Israeli ceasefire that Biden made last week before these steps were taken by Israel.

Hours before the interview aired, Biden’s top aides went on record presenting a very different approach to how the US wants to see a ceasefire come about, insisting that it was Hamas, not Israel that is holding up a deal that would see an extended pause in fighting, the hostages released and aid surge into Gaza.

“There could be a ceasefire in place today that would extend for several weeks to be built upon longer if Hamas would be prepared to release some of those people, so let’s train the attention where it belongs… I believe Israel is ready and Hamas should step up to the table and be prepared to do so as well,” said US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Hamas “has an opportunity now to agree to the proposal on a ceasefire and hostages. The ball is in Hamas’s court. The world is watching to see what it does,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Also on Tuesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris met with the families of some of the American hostages at the White House and expressed the administration’s continued commitment to securing their release.

GOP senators introduce bill aimed at downgrading Qatar ties if it doesn’t pressure Hamas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at Lusail Palace, in Doha on February 6, 2024. (Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP)

A group of Republican senators has introduced legislation that aims to strip Qatar of its status as a major non-NATO ally (MNNA) of the US if Doha doesn’t exert all leverage it has over Hamas to secure the release of the American hostages in Gaza, in addition to expelling all members of the terror group currently residing in the Gulf state.

The bill co-sponsored by Senators Ted Budd, Rick Scott and Joni Ernst would require US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to certify that it is in the national interest of the US for Qatar to maintain its designation as a major non-NATO ally; that Qatar does not directly or indirectly provide aid to Hamas; that it is sufficiently pressuring Hamas to release the hostages; and that it has expelled Hamas members along with all others involved in the October 7 attack on Israel.

“If the secretary of state cannot make this certification in good faith, then the president is required to immediately terminate the designation of the State of Qatar as a major non-NATO ally,” says the legislation.

MNNA status offers countries a series of privileges and financial advantages in their ties with the US.

Qatar’s Embassy in Washington says it’s disappointed by the legislation, stating its status as a NMMA of the US was earned through close defense ties between the countries.

“[But] our partnership with the US is not only defense related. Among other things, Qatar has quietly and successfully mediated the release of Americans held in Afghanistan, Iran and Venezuela,” the statement adds. “This is a record of successful collaboration based on shared interests and commitments. Especially in this delicate moment in our region, it is reckless to undermine the partnerships that America and its allies have built carefully over decades.”

The embassy also addresses Qatar’s ties with Israel and Hamas, claiming “our relationship with both is entirely based” on being a mediator.

“In the current crisis, Qatar’s record as a mediator speaks for itself, with over 100 hostages released to date. We are determined to do everything possible, but Qatar is only a mediator — we do not control Hamas or Israel. In the end, Hamas and Israel alone are responsible for reaching an agreement. “

Irish FM says Dublin poised to recognize Palestinian state

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin attends a joint press conference with his German counterpart (not pictured) at the foreign ministry in Berlin, on January 18, 2024. (Michele Tantussi/AFP)

DUBLIN — Ireland will move to recognize a Palestinian state in the coming weeks, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin says in Dublin.

Martin says he will bring a formal proposal on recognition of a Palestinian state to the government when “wider international discussions” are complete.

“Be in no doubt, recognition of a Palestinian state will happen,” he tells the Irish parliament during a speech.

Delaying recognition “is not credible or tenable any longer,” he says.

Martin tells local news site the Journal that the formal proposal will happen “in the next couple of weeks.”

Contradicting Netanyahu, Gallant told Austin no date set for Rafah op — source

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Washington, March 26, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US counterpart Lloyd Austin during a call yesterday that Israel has not set a date for the launch of a major ground offensive in Rafah, contradicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

Gallant said Israel is still finalizing its plans to evacuate the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians currently sheltering in Gaza’s southernmost city after fleeing the fighting areas to the north, the source says, confirming reporting in Axios and Haaretz.

The call took place hours after Netanyahu claimed in a public statement that a date had been set for the Rafah operation.

“If he has a date he hasn’t shared it with us,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters earlier today when asked if Jerusalem had briefed Washington on its plans.

He went on to note that Netanyahu “makes public statements [but] also talks to us in private about aspects of operations and their thinking with Rafah in some considerable detail,” indicating that there is often a discrepancy between the two.